1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to merchandising aids and security systems, and more particularly to a merchandising marker, such as tag and card assemblies, accommodating an anti-theft security device integral therewith.
2. Background
Merchandising markers are known for attaching product information, price and stocking information to merchandise. Typically, these markers will comprise a flat tag member usually made of cardboard. Markers are attached to a piece of merchandise by different means. Some markers are attached by adhesive means; others are attached by means of a tether or loop of material, such as polyethylene, to hold the marker to the merchandise.
Markers in the form of display cards are also known for holding jewelry, particularly earrings, for display on merchandise racks. Cards will also have a means for securing the merchandise, such as a jewelry product, to the card such as a pair of holes for passing the posts of pierced-ear style earrings through, which will retain the earrings on a front face of the card when a clasp is affixed onto the posts after mounting to the card. Other mounting arrangements are also common for retaining clip-on style earrings, bracelets, anklets, and the like. The cards generally also have a means for hanging the card with its jewelry attached on a display. For example, a hole for receiving a rod or peg such as a J-bar, or a pair of 90 degree bends in the card to form a channel for hooking the card over a horizontal rod.
Jewelry cards of the known variety allow the attractive display of the items they carry. They allow for the portable display of jewelry, and due to their small size, allow potential customers to examine the jewelry product adjacent to similar product, against clothing items with which the purchaser desires them to accent, and against the face of the buyer to gauge the product's appeal. Because the jewelry is allowed to hang from the jewelry card, the jewelry can be observed on display in a natural state, a state that also helps avoid tangling of ornamental chains or other dangling elements.
Jewelry cards of the known variety are also convenient for shipping and storing earrings, which come in matched pairs and are best not separated.
Unfortunately, while jewelry cards of the known varieties have been effective in the transport, storage, and display of jewelry, their small and portable size renders them a relatively easy object of theft. Because jewelry can be valuable on a per-unit basis, it would be desirable to provide for certain security features on jewelry cards to help reduce the instances of theft.
Likewise, the prior art merchandising markers in the form of tags attached to articles offer no anti-theft benefits. In the example of another high-theft item, sunglasses, a prior art merchandising marker bearing price information can be easily removed from the sunglasses, allowing a thief to abscond with the product undetected.
Security or electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems in retail environments are known. These systems typically comprise a detection device, located usually at a controlled entrance/exit point to where the merchandise is on display, and a security element that is attached to the merchandise. If the merchandise is moved through the controlled entrance/exit without disabling the security element, an alarm will sound. Typically, these security elements are removed from the product or otherwise disabled by an attendant of the merchant after a sale is transacted, allowing the purchaser to exit without sounding the alarm.
One well-known system for EAS is the swept-RF system. Swept-RF systems, such as the Impulse.RTM. system of Checkpoint Industries, utilize a small RF (radio frequency) pressure-sensitive label that is attached to the product. These labels contain a tiny RF-printed passive circuit. A pedestal is placed on either side of an entrance or exit and creates an RF field. If a label that has not been deactivated passes through the field, it will cause the RF circuit to resonate at a frequency detectable by the pedestal, and trigger an alarm. Current trends in manufacturing include "source tagging", where the manufacturer includes an EAS-active or activateable element in or on the packaging of the merchandise.
It is known that swept-RF labels, which are pressure sensitive adhesive-based thin labels, may be applied to merchandise or to earring cards. Significant problems, however, are inherent in swept-RF technology that make an EAS system based on swept-RF less effective for monitoring merchandising. First, the security element of a swept-RF EAS system, which is in the form of a label, may be peeled from the product, thus defeating it's protection. Because small items of merchandise and jewelry cards have limited available surface area, it is difficult to place the security element in such a way that it cannot be peeled off.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,025 suggests one solution to the problem by proposing a jewelry card that is folded to form an interior volume for accommodating a swept-RF security element. This solution, however, uses more than twice as much card material as is necessary and increases environmental detriment as a result. Further, the resulting shape occupies a far greater space in terms of its depth, thus decreasing the amount of jewelry merchandise which may be exhibited on a given display rack.
Further problems exist with swept-RF EAS systems. One large problem is security element degradation that can result from exposure to humidity, static electricity and other electronic noise.
Another major problem which results when automated procedures are attempted to be used to apply swept-RF labels to merchandising markers is one of registration, or the alignment of the label on the earring card. Many merchandising markers, particularly jewelry cards, require printed indicia or graphics for marketing purposes, which are also typically provided on adhesive labels. In automated assembly of a merchandising marker, conventional assembly lines are not equipped to allow registration of the swept-RF label and the graphics label simultaneously on the marker body.
Another prevalent format for EAS systems is known as magnetomechanical or acousto-mechanical technology. Acousto-mechanical systems, such as the Ultra-Max.RTM. of Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, utilizes a security device comprising a first relatively elongated element of high magnetic permeability ferromagnetic material disposed adjacent to another ferromagnetic element having higher coercivity. When an interrogation frequency from an EAS pedestal strikes the pair, the security device causes harmonics of the emitted signal to develop in a receiving coil. The result is a reliable EAS system, with detection or "pick" rates of 90%.
Acousto-mechanical security devices are, by nature of their bi-elemental construction, not as thin as swept-RF markers, and thus are more conspicuous. The security devices usually are packaged in a small plastic box, usually white, which is just large enough to accommodate the ferromagnetic elements. The small plastic box is usually attached to an article by adhesive. The result is a rather conspicuous EAS security device.
Both swept-RF and acousto-mechanical security elements provide the unfortunate disadvantage of rendering protected and unprotected merchandise easy to differentiate, diluting the so-called "halo effect," which results when a potential shoplifter is not sure whether an article is protected or not. In the case of jewelry cards, it also provides the potential shoplifter, upon identifying the security device, with an incentive to remove the merchandise from the card in an effort to defeat any anti-theft measures. In the case where a merchandising marker bearing the security element, such as a tag, is easily detached from the merchandise, a conspicuous sensor provides an incentive to remove the marker from the merchandise.
The prior art does not address the need to provide a merchandising marker having an inconspicuously included EAS security device that uses only the amount of stock material necessary and maintains a compact configuration.